Yes, you can only have the default 6 second offset with the free service.

Personally I prefer the larger offsets, not the ones less than 6 seconds, larger offsets provide the advantage with the bid increment rule working in your favour, lower offsets the opposite._________________Mark

Anything less than 10 seconds and the person supposedly 'reacting' must have just scheduled a later snipe or is there waiting to update their bid... which anyone soon realises is just a waste of time when you have the option to have bid a higher amount or scheduled a higher snipe at a price you were evidently prepared to pay.

The later you bid the higher the price is likely to be as you allow more scheduled snipes to have been placed before yours. Ebay rejects all bids that are not more than one bid increment more than the current auction price. So, you are more likely to loose to a lower bid if your snipe is scheduled later._________________Mark

So your reasoning is the later you bid, the chances are that somebody might have bid a higher price prior to the 3s snipe and therefore making your 3s snipe invalid?

So let's say that person A is prepared to pay the maximum of $100 for an item and set the snipe at $100. In this case, it would be more advantageous to snipe at 3s than it is at 6s because if you were to get sniped yourself, then you may or may not win, but if nobody is sniping the same auction, there is an advantage because the current highest bidder might not be able to react to you fast enough

No, if someone else gets a higher bid than yours accepted, at any time, whether that be a snipe or not, then you will loose. Timing doesn't matter in the slightest in any of those scenarios.

The second paragraph of your response is too garbled for me to understand, sorry. You need to think about what is really going on in all possible scenarios that you consider.

If someone else has a bid (snipe or not) of $100, if they get in first you can't win for $100 yourself, can you ?

You'd have to be bidding more than that to win with a later bid.

However, if you bid earlier, then no one else can win at that price. That is the early bid rule, two the same, the earlier one wins.

It's worse than that though, if the auction price is already $100 when your bid is to be placed, you can't even win if your snipe is for a slightly higher amount, if that snipe amount is within one bid bid increment of that $100 auction price... because then Ebay rejects your later, higher, bid entirely. That is the bid increment rule.

I have been using Ebay since abut 2000 and supporting people here since soon after gixen was launched, so you'll appreciate this conversation has been had quite a few times.. and no-one is ever going to be able to produce an argument that a later snipe is a more effective snipe, because such an argument always runs contrary to the way that Ebay actually works.

Sniping only gives you an advantage over reactions... something that occurs within 10 seconds of you placing a bid is not reaction, it is at the very most the outcome of a pre-planed action.

Like I say, you need to consider how it is possible for someone to do that, sure, it is possible for them to sit there waiting for you to place a bid poised to enter a higher one, think about yourself doing that, you've already decided you are prepared to pay more than you have already bid, haven't you ?... So it's a waste of time, isn't it?... You might as well just put in that bid you are prepared to make whether or not any other bids come in... What are you going to do wait till the last second when it might be too late to register that bid at all ? No you are not that stupid... Why do you think there are many others that are ?, I don't, I do respect that most of our fellow humans have a modicum of intelligence... though, I admit, I still get disappointed occasionally... or you could schedule a snipe using a service like Gixen and forget about it... you'd have to be pretty stupid to carry on sitting at your computer waiting to bid, for more than a few auctions, wouldn't you ?... Alternatively, they scheduled a later higher snipe... you only loose as a gixen sniper in the last 15 or so seconds if your bid is rejected, or if someone was prepared to pay more than you and took the required action to ensure the amount they were prepared to pay was registered with Ebay before the auction ended... and in that case you should still be happy that they paid too much for it, because the amount you set as your snipe amount was the maximum that you were prepared to pay for that item._________________Mark

Here's an auction that provides a counterexample to your claim that "something that occurs within 10 seconds of you placing a bid is not a reaction:"

w w w.ebay.com/itm/172798778042

With eBay's one-click bidding, it is indeed possible to react well within 10 seconds.

pages.ebay.com/help/buy/contextual/fastbidding.html

Of course, it's still true that ultimately it's the highest bid that wins. After all, the one-click bidder was willing to pay more than the second highest bid (which arrived 5 seconds before the auction ended).

It's also true that one has to be in front of a computer at whatever the auction ending time happens to be in order to engage in one-click bidding, but my example shows that there are some bidders willing to do that.

As you acknowledge in your post, in order to add more bids, you have to be sitting at your computer ready to do so, or have a snipe scheduled at a higher amount... so by your own words,

IT IS NOT A REACTION, IT'S ALREADY BEEN PLANNED

I've already acknowledged that you can sit at your computer and do that, and pointed out how much of a waste of time it is, to do so.

Even if the person doing the bidding thinks that they are reacting they are just deluding themself... They knew full well that they were willing to pay more than they had bid, before that last bid came in.

The history of that auction even demonstrates that the eventual winner was sitting there pushing the autobid button well in advance of the last loosing bid being placed._________________Mark

Last edited by Cupid on Sat Aug 05, 2017 12:24 pm; edited 1 time in total

You may not remember, but we had this discussion several years ago and determined that we look at this slightly differently.

After all, the one-click bidder wanted that *particular* item badly enough that they didn't view it as a waste of time to sit in front of the computer (as it would be if you were routinely bidding on items that are readily available via multiple auctions), and you would have to agree that one-click bidding *is* a reaction.

Of course, you did indeed mention the possibility that someone could sit in front of the computer and one-click bid and I apologize if I somehow implied that you weren't aware of one-click bidding. However, the question of whether or not one-click bidding is a waste of time depends on who the bidder is.

You still have an active account on this forum, if you want to recover and use it.

No, I think even if the bidder thinks it's a reaction that is a delusion (I apologise, I edited my post at the same moment you were replying) and one that I seek to have them address.

You have to admit that, once you know how Ebay works, it's not logical behaviour to do what they are doing, if they actually want to win and are prepared to pay much more than the current auction price in order to do so... and I also know you know a great deal more about logic than I do...

I also believe that humans can be taught logic... even when they say they just 'don't get it'... and I know you also believe in education... and our mission is to spread the knowledge, is it not ?... and not pander to ignorance as if it really doesn't matter. _________________Mark

Thanks, Mark. I would indeed like to resurrect my forum account, if that's possible. I forgot the password a long time ago. Should I email Mario at his Gixen Support address?

I completely agree that it's not logical behavior to engage in one-click bidding once one understands how eBay works. The one-clicker that outbid me was a newbie with only 8 feedbacks. I also completely agree that it's possible to teach humans logic, but my experience teaching mathematics is that many people find learning logic difficult.

I can see that you are definitely working overtime spreading knowledge during Gixen's transition, Mark! I'll try to do better on my end.

We've got an anniversary coming up... both of us registered on this Community area on 09 Aug 2007, I am user number 4 and you are 5.

You're falling behind on your posting rate... you have only 519 so far (not including those on this thread)

It would be fantastic to celebrate with us both still posting here on the accounts we started back then...

We (well certainly I) have really missed you here (though I've kept an eye out elsewhere )... We don't have to agree on every detail... indeed I actually continue to hope that doesn't happen... because a range of views is what stimulates useful debate, which I'm all in favour of, as you know... and I have to admit, that without your informed input, that can get a little stultified here.

So, if you you are able to visit us, even just once in a while, (all the time if you have the time)... I'd be made up...

Sorry, I've been a bit grumpy recently... I really am pleased to see you though... so is Mario, I see ... it's all good ... onwards and upwards..._________________Mark

I read a lot in this old post on the 2 or 3 seconds bidding offset and would like to get a better understanding how this really works in eBay.

I'm a bit bewildered here. When the last second of the auction comes to an end are you saying that people still can bid on it after that. like a grace period past that last second and if their is grace period past the last second on the click how long would that be?

I my settings to be at the best time to have my bid put in so I win. I have placed my own bid in the Gixen ebay sniper here $87.00 higher than the bid last bid that has already placed at this point of time and I will not bid any higher than that. Basically said I put in a bid of $125.00 dollars.

I don't understand this second rule going on at all from all I read so far. Maybe somebody can explain it in more simple terms so I can understand.

I have a friend that told me 4 seconds would be a perfect setting verses lesser or higher seconds.

I really have to clue how this really works because it hasn't been explained simple enough for my mind to comprehend it all what is going on in eBay with the final bidding, winner and loser concept per seconds.

1. Bids at least one bid increment above the current price are accepted up until the time the auction closes. No late bids are accepted.

2. The highest bid wins. If two identical bids arrive within less than the time it takes for eBay to update the current price (i.e., about one second), the earlier bid wins.

The point Mark is making is that if you are competing against several other snipers bidding similar amounts, you are in a better position to win if your bid is earlier since your bid would win over an identical bid placed later.

However, if a higher bid is placed, it will win regardless of when it was placed._________________John

If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
--- Yogi Berra